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Narrowing the business and IT gap : a knowledge approach

Mohamed, Essack (2007-12)

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2007.

Thesis

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The effort and costs to achieve alignment between Business and IT have plagued
executives for more than 15 years. More recently, from 2005 and 2006, Gartner EXP CIO
survey reported that the top 3 management priorities of CIOs have shifted from security
breaches and Business disruption to:
• Linking Business and IT strategies
• Building Business skills in the IT organization
• Delivering Business growth
Gartner's EXP survey also reported on organizations top 3 barriers to alignment and
growth as being:
• The Business not knowing what it wants
• Business professionals not collaborating with IT
• Business leaders trying to circumvent Business problems by using technology.
Other studies have expanded Gartner's list of 3 barriers, adding:
• Ineffective communication
• Lack of understanding the other's perspective
• Untimely or lack of involvement
To improve the relationship between Business and IT, organisations continue to strategise
and researchers continue to write prolifically about alignment and bridging the gap. Much
of the literature regarding alignment focuses on becoming better at hardware, information
systems, and infrastructure, or emphasizing Business improvement. It is unlikely that this
elusive goal will be achieved in an exclusive silo mentality by either IT or Business in
isolation of each other. An alternative approach of the gap is a resolution from both ends -
for Business to become more 'IT friendly' and for IT to become more 'Business friendly'.
This collaborative approach is by definition a knowledge approach - it frames the construct
whereby this research is based. It requires of either side to recognize the shortcomings in
a mature manner, to acknowledge the gaps, to educate, to communicate, share their
domain knowledge so that the cross pollination of proficiencies result in Business-savvy IT
resources and IT-sawy Business resources emerge.
A knowledge approach recognises knowledge management (KM) enablers such as
leadership, culture, technology and measurements that act in a dynamic relationship with
KM processes, namely, creating, identifying, collecting, adapting, organizing, applying,
and sharing. Enabling a knowledge approach is a worthy goal of sharing, of collaborating
by blending of Business-IT experiences in a cauldron of disciplines and expertise to
achieve improvements and to add value to the objective of narrowing the gap between
Business and IT.
This research is developed to:
• Investigate the extent of knowledge sharing in and across Business and IT, with a
view of assessing its impact on the Business IT gap.
• Assess ~ demographics (personal or situational) predispose Business and IT to
sharing knowledge.
• Establish if domain knowledge of the respective groups per se influences the gap
between Business and IT.
KM, although relatively youthful, is entering its fourth generation with evidence of two
paradigms emerging - that of mainstream thinking and that of the complex adaptive
system theory. This research uses pertinent and relevant extracts from both paradigms
appropriate to gain an improved understanding and an informed opinion in responding to
narrowing the gap.
The research shows that both Business and IT evidence a strong willingness to share
knowledge and both groups overwhelmingly acknowledge the value of sharing. Two
distinct groups of knowledge sharers emerge, a proactive opportunistic group and a large
reactive 'after-stimulus' group. The importance of domain knowledge in transcending
mediocrity becomes evident in narrowing the gap between Business and IT. The research
further demonstrates that there is no strongly distinct affiliation between demographics
(personal or situational) and knowledge sharing.